• You need to be a registered member of Barbel Fishing World to post on these forums. Some of the forums are hidden from non-members. Please refer to the instructions on the ‘Register’ page for details of how to join the new incarnation of BFW...

Why is the Severn record so low ?

Simon Tarrant

Simon Tarrant

Active Member
Why is the Severn record so low ? Been stocked in the 70's , huge river with lots of bait put in .

Surely a twenty should be possible ?
 
Maybe due to it not being there natural home, yeah theyve done well, survived and flourished but its true they dont seem to put weight on like they do other rivers. On the lower severn maybe there's a chance but I still doubt it.
I've fished the severn all my angling life but only the middle and a few sessions on the upper. Not going to lie, sometimes it feels like a kick in the behind struggling on sessions and multiple blanks for the odd double each season when you see lads on the trent and other rivers catch them every session. Of course it's great still catching these barbel and for me a 9 is a good fish but it would be nice to catch these doubles every session.
Either way, just catching them regardless of the size is enough for me. But a boy can wish/dream though.
 
I reckon the Lower below Tewkesbury could possibly produce some lumps..But the lack of anglers bait might be a problem with weight gain. The river here is really unknown as to potential it has as a local captured my imagination. Its not like other tidal rivers with poor access.
I understand Barbel have been caught as far down as Gloucester docks. ...so you never know. My best barbel is plus 15 from the lower and these stamp of fish are rare and well documented captures.
 
Neil Smart said:
I reckon the Lower below Tewkesbury could possibly produce some lumps..But the lack of anglers bait might be a problem with weight gain. The river here is really unknown as to potential it has as a local captured my imagination. Its not like other tidal rivers with poor access.
I understand Barbel have been caught as far down as Gloucester docks. ...so you never know. My best barbel is plus 15 from the lower and these stamp of fish are rare and well documented captures.
Click to expand...
If I lived closer Neil I'd fish the lower, would love to do a bit down there. Don't know why I keep putting it off. Probably down to feeling like I'm far to up against it with the pollution and predation problems.
 
Neil Smart said:
I reckon the Lower below Tewkesbury could possibly produce some lumps..But the lack of anglers bait might be a problem with weight gain. The river here is really unknown as to potential it has as a local captured my imagination. Its not like other tidal rivers with poor access.
I understand Barbel have been caught as far down as Gloucester docks. ...so you never know. My best barbel is plus 15 from the lower and these stamp of fish are rare and well documented captures.
Click to expand...
Doubles have come out below Tewkesbury weir though not common . I haven't heard of any being caught in the tppa matches either .

Are captures documented or kept secret to prevent attention ?

Surely there must be 500+ doubles in the Severn
 
Simon Tarrant said:
Doubles have come out below Tewkesbury weir though not common . I haven't heard of any being caught in the tppa matches either .

Are captures documented or kept secret to prevent attention ?

Surely there must be 500+ doubles in the Severn
Click to expand...
500+? That's an interesting figure Simon and I must ask how you came to it? Not saying you're right or wrong, but how on earth do you speculate on the number of doubles in a river the size of the Severn? I know it's possible on smaller rivers, or at least on specific stretches, to get a rough idea due to repeat captures, but on a huge river I wouldn't know where to start if asked how many doubles it contained.
 
And that is the mystery of the tidal Severn. There are big carp that come out but it is very hush hush. What other river can throw up a near 100lb catfish to a barbel angler?
The nature of the lower is not really suitable for barbel if we agree that streamy gravel runs are preferred. But there are such places on the lower and ...well you never know.🤔
 
Things are changing in the Shrewsbury area e.g. Montford Bridge to Cressage. For years it was a case of good sport with shoalies in the 3lb to 8lb range, but within the last five years, the Barbel have packed weight on and my best last season in this area was 12.12lb, the season before was 12.1lb and the season prior to this 11.7lb. Young fish are still coming through too.

As someone who also bailiffs the river in this area, I'm aware of confirmed low 13lb fish.

In the scale of things nationally, these are not huge fish, but it will be interesting to see just how big some of these fish will go in the next few years?
 
Last edited:
The Severn shares something with the rivers of north east England and the Ribble in that the headwaters rise in upland areas. None of these rivers produce particularly large barbel. It's likely that the average water temperatures are significantly lower than the lowland rivers that regularly produce significantly larger fish.
 
John Care said:
The Severn is a cold river in my opinion, certainly colder than the Southern rivers, and possibly the Trent also. That's one reason for certain.
Click to expand...
Hi John,
I no longer fish the lower Severn regularly and was wondering if the size of the barbel were decreasing. Back ‘in the day’ doubles were not uncommon once ‘hot’ swims were located. This is bearing in mind that large areas were almost devoid of barbel.
G.T.
 
It's hard to believe that when I was doing group guided trips on the Severn about 40 years ago one weekend on the Lower produced 28, yes 28 double figure fish with one chaps first Barbel being over 13lb.

The last 10 years have IMO very tough, I have probably caught a barbel every 3 trips. Best 13lb although I tend to avoid known repeat captured bigger fish areas.

Size wise, I agree with the comments about colder water as a norm affecting growth rates.
 
Great question to ask with no right or wrong answers and theories. I think personally that a Western spate river is different in nature to a Eastern flowing river, shallower river. Take the Thames catchment- banks often no more than 2-3 ft high as opposed to the Teme/Severn/Wye of 20ft. Also Thames catchment across large parts has a massive population of crays so its food resource is different. I fished the Lower pretty extensively for a few years-had a lot of doubles which were 10.0, 10.1, 10.2 (must have had 10-15 9.15oz fish), I probably had less than 20 11lb fish, 3 12's and one 13 pounder (which was caught by a friend at over 14. I also saw a 15plus fish caught by Nick Duffy. The 13 was for me a lifetime fish from the Severn. Moving to Reading in 2011-within 3 months smashed my PB a number of times (32 fish one season-23 doubles). I think some big girls do come out-but there a lot of 'underground' anglers who don't give up their catches, but still think there are few monsters to be caught. The Thames must have more big fish in it (plus uncaught fish) than any river inc the Trent. The catchments to conclude are very different. This is all written from someone who feels out of the scene nowadays-so how accurate/valuable it is-who knows.
Keep smiling!
DT
 
Graham Elliott said:
It's hard to believe that when I was doing group guided trips on the Severn about 40 years ago one weekend on the Lower produced 28, yes 28 double figure fish with one chaps first Barbel being over 13lb.

The last 10 years have IMO very tough, I have probably caught a barbel every 3 trips. Best 13lb although I tend to avoid known repeat captured bigger fish areas.

Size wise, I agree with the comments about colder water as a norm affecting growth rates.
Click to expand...
Yes, those were the days Graham…..02/10/92……Me, a 12.04 PB…..Keith…a 9lb 14 oz fish and broke the river record with a fish of 14lb 1oz.😂🤪👍
 
I think the cold water theory affecting growth definitely has an impact! If you look at the Warwickshire Avon, one of the Severn's main tributaries, which I think flows east to west. There was an article in AT many years back about research carried out that showed the Avon barbel being the fastest growing in all rivers at the time.
This was evident by the Avon record regularly being broken, to the point it caught up with the Severn, and exceeded it. At one point there were a number of young fast growing fish, in addition to the one that held the record at the time, with the potential to well exceed the Severn record, and probably go onto becoming exceptional specimens,. Predation etc put paid to them
unfortunately, but there are signs of some big fish starting to come through again, and the current river record is still 2.5lb heavier than the Severn.
 
Graham Tremble said:
Yes, those were the days Graham…..02/10/92……Me, a 12.04 PB…..Keith…a 9lb 14 oz fish and broke the river record with a fish of 14lb 1oz.😂🤪👍
Click to expand...
I have great memories Graham about reading your's and Keith's exploits on the Lower Severn and the Teme in early issues of the BarbelFisher. Inspirational reading👍
 
Mark Harridence said:
I have great memories Graham about reading your's and Keith's exploits on the Lower Severn and the Teme in early issues of the BarbelFisher. Inspirational reading👍
Click to expand...
Thanks Mark. Now I am an ‘oldie’ and a little ‘fragile’ I rarely get out but I still get a bottle scotch out some evenings and flip through my albums.
, happy days.
Sitting with Keith and watching him catch one of his rods bouncing out of the rest and announcing that ‘ I might have had a touch there Gra….’ and laughing his head off.👍
Tight Lines,
G.T.
 
Graham Tremble said:
Thanks Mark. Now I am an ‘oldie’ and a little ‘fragile’ I rarely get out but I still get a bottle scotch out some evenings and flip through my albums.
, happy days.
Sitting with Keith and watching him catch one of his rods bouncing out of the rest and announcing that ‘ I might have had a touch there Gra….’ and laughing his head off.👍
Tight Lines,
G.T.
Click to expand...
Great memories Graham, you definitely deserve that Scotch👍
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top